Officials Urge Firearm Safety Following Fatal Target Shooting Accident

By: Morgan Demmel Email

Updated: Tue 5:11 AM, Jul 24, 2012

After target practice turned deadly for one Ravenna man over the weekend, officials are urging people to use firearms safely.

"It's important that you respect what a firearm can do," Heartland Public Shooting Park Superintendent Bill Starkey says.

Starkey says that knowledge and understanding could be lifesaving.

"It can be a great tool for recreation or, if it's not treated with the respect it deserves, it can become a tool that causes these sorts of accidents to happen," Starkey says.

He says that includes accidents like the death of 47-year-old Armando Tapia Tinajero near Ravenna on Friday.

"Somewhere during the process of him target shooting, there was either an accidental discharge or an errant discharge, and it resulted in that he was fatally struck with the bullet and died at the scene," Buffalo County Sheriff Captain Bob Anderson says.

It's an accident officials say is preventable, with the proper training and safety precautions.

"People need to be very, very careful with the weapons," Anderson says, "particularly if they're with other people or they have a weapon they're unfamiliar with or maybe a new weapon."

Buffalo County Sheriff's officials say that could be a factor in this case.

"We believe this gentleman had a relatively new weapon, that he had recently acquired, and how much of that, if any, contributed to this, we're attempting to figure out at this time," Anderson says.

But Starkey says there's never any reason to fire a weapon you're unfamiliar with.

"It's always wise to seek some professional instruction," Starkey says.
"It's not the firearm that does the damage, it's us as shooters, so when we obey the rules and we stick to them and we seek out the proper instructions for handling a firearm, then those problems just go away."

The Buffalo County Sheriff's office is still investigating the case.

Authorities say gun safety instruction is only required in Nebraska for youth applying for hunting permits or people applying for concealed carry permits.